Pike and Shot action after many months

 Ian decided to set up an ECW themed game whereby a Scottish army invades England, forcing the English player to withdrawl into a castle. He forgot that to storm a castle, one needs to keep your artillery from being taken out by enemy cavalry.

Battlefield Britain - Naseby

Another pike and shot battle from the Snow's BBC series. This is something my son and I will have to see about wargamming this battle.

Osprey Publishing - Dunbar 1650

Osprey Publishing - Dunbar 1650




The preview of this text was intriguing for me. As well, I had a bit of a Scots army for my ECW force.




, all pictures from plasticsoldierreview

Osprey Publishing - Soldiers of the English Civil War (1)

Osprey Publishing - Soldiers of the English Civil War (1)




I bought this volume at a foreign book shop in South Korea.




I have used the text and color plates to build my own ECW army




(all shots from plasticsoldierreview)

BBC's Tales from the green valley episode 1 FULL

Thanks to Maddie Gillett for posting these videos. It's a good reference to how life was in the 17th century. It also helps to open up our eyes to understand how English colonists would have fared in North American, and comparing how their experiences in England would not do so well with the climate in North eastern North America

Attack on Dunromin Castle 1650

A quite Sunday afternoon means I have a small battle. This time, I dug out our Pike and Shot figures and put up the castle parts I've gotten via www.juniorgeneral.org and wizards of the coast.

Dunromin Castle in Scotland was being held by an English government force. A Royalist/Scottish force had been landed by Montrose to try and enflame Scotland for King Charles.

In the original campaign, The Earl of Sutherland withdrew to a stronger position. In this game, the scenario is that the Royalists/Scots attack the castle.

The video clip can be seen on www.youtube.com japanesehighlander

February 2012 sunday 17 battle

 So Ian decided that he wanted to have another battle whereby the English would attack a Scottish army in camp.

My Scottish army encamped.

 

The Highland pikemen advance. Ian let his pikes advance towards the right of the Scottish camp. His attempt was to break the Scottish horse as well as making the Highland clansmen disperse, thereby breaking into the camp.

The Scottish army camp. The first line of my attack was made up of two wings of musket blocks. Ian sent in his muskets which blasted mine, but they were then set upon by my clansmen. The Highland musketers then advanced in an arrow formation breaking the English horse, then setting upon their pike blocks. By dividing his army in two, Ian was forced to retreat. He took his defeat will.

This battle also has a video clip on youtube at my japanesehighlander channel

 

 

 

 

 

Battle of Wigan Lane August 25, 1651

My Chrismas vacation has begun, so obvisouly, this means I can have some wargames with my son.

Ian decided that he wanted to dig out his Spanish conquistodors and his pikemen. So, thus a scenarior based on Wigan Lane  was born.
Several factors have to be considered when we plan out a battle.
1. the playing space: I have a small table which becomes the battlefield.
2. The setting. As part of the battle would have been fought in a fortified town, I have modeled one section of the town, though damaged, with gaps in the walls, and hastily made repairs.
3. the troops. The Royalists are modeled with Conquistodors, the pikemen come from various units, and as a splash of colour, Scottish highlanders
4. The Parlimentarian/New Model Army units are modeled with some of our FWI rangers/militia.

The Royalists advance to the walls

Close up of the Royalist musketeers with Spanish kit

The Royalists cavalry close in (and yes, they are Napoleonic curassiers)

The parlimentarians await the onslaught. Their weak defences allowed the Royalists to get some Christmas cheer in the supplies held in this old castle.

A skirmish on the Scottish borders 1650

This was a border battle in the Scottish borders area. Ian's English army was attempting to cross into Scotland as part of the 1650 campaign.
The Scots musket block attempted to advance and blow great holes in the English pike block, but they got bogged down in their advance. The English then rode them down with Horse and pike. The Scottish were unable to recover from this setback for the rest of the game and eventually fled, leaving the border wide open.

Golden week 3

Our oldest daughter is in the Kendo club of her Junior high school. This shot was taken in the city gym. It was a city kendo championship. She came 4th in the city. Pretty good.

On the final Sunday, we went to a park in our city of Kamagaya which has a really neat playground. All this stuff is like a large obstacle course for kids and adults who aren't too heavy. My wife and daughter went first.

Over the bridge they go. Ian then joined in.

he really liked the zipline.

Watch out for the mud!

Go down the cool slide.

Climb up into the tower.

Then come back down.

Then go again on the zipline.

Then Leena gave it a go. Good on her.

A week later, we went there again for mother's day. The funny thing is, the kids wore the same clothes. so the pictures would be the same!

We then went home and Ian and I had another skirmish game. This time, it was an English raid during the Dunbar campaign. Ian built up this farm himself. However, he put all his fences inside the farm, I guess to keep the animals seperate from the defenders. He also left his wagons with supplies outside his wall, and left a big gaping hole in his defences by the windmill.

As the English charged into the farm, the Moss riders came forth to smash into them. Unfortunately for them, the English shot them down.

While the Scots horse tried to halt the English left flank, their archers tried to flank their right. The other English block took a gamble and marched right by them. Two companies of English muskeeters eliminated them. Eventually the pikes smashed into the Scots pikes and through push, drove the Scots off. The English had one small gun which they used to fire at the wagons, destroying one, before shooting up the Highlanders who came charging out of the farm. While the cannon and shot kept them at bay, the pikemen dropped their pikes, stole one wagon and filled it with as much plunder as they could. The game ended when the English drove off with a wagon full of supplies, but lost 1/3 of their attacking force. The Scots lost all their shot in attempting to repell the raid.

Ians evil chuckle

Once again, he won and he was giggling like mad as he then realised that the Scots Raiders could pillage to their hearts content, even the English farmer's wife was taken with the Scottish leader and rode off with him.

Are you ok daddy? It's only a game!

Here I am trying to figure out how my 6 year old son has beaten me again! Maybe he's using loaded dice, yeah that's it. That, and my musketeers kept either misfiring or were crap shots!

The livestock in the fields

Livestock in the field. Some English farmers armed with matchlocks try to drive off some Scots raiders

English farm

The interior courtyard of the farm. Loaded with loot for the Scots Raiders

Scottish market day

The English farmers escort their last wagonloads into the strong farm. The storehouse/windmill is packed with grain, whiskey, and livestock in the fields.

Scottish border action

This scenario is from Wargammes Illustrated. It's set in the Scottish/English borders. In this action, a Scottish Raiding party have decided to raid an English farm just before market day

Dunbar 7

I'm awaiting Cromwell's attack but my massed musket block ala Swedish Slavo will clear him from the field. My Scottish army smashed the English line in two places. After destroying the English army in front of their camp, the Scottish simply crawled over the entrenchments and looted to their heart's content.
This was my first victory using the Field of Glory Rennasience rules. It was also the first victory over Ian in a long time. He was a little annoyed as he made a big mistake. But he's just a little guy. He has usually blunted most of my attacks. 

Dunbar 6

Full view of the English camp. According to Reid's Dunbar 1650, Cromwell may have been attempting a breakout which he was able to turn into his own victory. In this game however, Cromwell was overconfident and charged his entire army save one gun crew at the Scottish army.

Dunbar 5

The Highlanders and Moss Troopers smash their way into the English army. The English musketeers make a line to fire into the massed block.

Dunbar 4

The Highlanders charge the English pike block. The rest of the English army pour out of their camp